


Cheesecake Tarts

by bubbleblower757



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Azula Rights, Gen, Happy Ending, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Past Child Abuse, Sokka teaches Azula how to bake, azula and Zuko become close, he teaches Zuko too, some sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:47:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25622374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubbleblower757/pseuds/bubbleblower757
Summary: “It’s okay, Zuzu.”Zuko turns rigid as he hears Azula’s trembling voice. Turning around, he faces Azula’s watery gaze as she looks down at the bag he holds.“Are those cheesecake tarts?” She quietly asked.Zuko flashed Azula a faint smile as he opened the bag, revealing several milky-white cheesecake tarts…Azula’s favorite.“I know you keep telling me to stop bringing them, but I tried to make them this time,” Zuko started, blushing lightly at the admission.“The firelord bakes?” Azula playfully teasedor....Azula's redemption story
Comments: 7
Kudos: 214





	Cheesecake Tarts

Golden rays of sunshine dance around Zuko’s slim frame as he slowly walks up the familiar marbled steps. Usually, Zuko spent his mornings meditating in the palace gardens. He does this to make sure his mind is clear and focused for his duties as firelord. The thought of actually being firelord still felt foreign to Zuko, even though it had been three years since his coronation. A lot has happened in those three years. Zuko had pull countless all-nighters to review new fire nation policies, go over trade agreements, policing, and dozens of other reforms.

Of course, Zuko loved getting to help rebuild the world and dismantle the damage done by his family for generations, but the late nights eventually add up. To top it off, the dozens of attempts on his life threatened the first year of his reign. It didn’t concern Zuko too much though, to the dismay of his friends. They became so concerned that Aang personally asked the Kyoshi Warriors to watch over him. Of course, when Sokka found out about the attempts, he came all the way back to the fire nation just to scold Zuko about keeping that a secret. Sokka demanded to become Zuko’s personal bodyguard and protected the young firelord form an attempt or two. Eventually, the assassination attempts dwindled down to basically nothing, but by that time, the Kyoshi Warriors had already established new lives here and Sokka became the Ambassador from the Southern Water Tribe, so they stayed.

He enjoyed having both Sokka and Suki around. The three of them got along perfectly, always laughing about something. Them and Mai helped keep Zuko sane during his first year. There were nights were Zuko would have breakdowns over the responsibility of running a nation and the guilt of his family’s actions eating away at his mind. Uncle was the only person that could calm Zuko down from those episodes, but with him in Ba Sing Se running his tea shop, that wasn’t an option. The three of them would always stay with Zuko until he calmed down and came back to his senses. Without them, he probably would’ve gone crazy.

Needless to say, Zuko was tired. He stopped by the entrance and saw his reflection in the window and sighed at the tired face staring back at him. Zuko hadn’t been getting any sleep at all the past couple of weeks due to the biggest stressor in his life right now: family.

“Firelord Zuko! Thank you for coming,” the housekeeper bowed deeply to show his respect.

“Would you like me to take your things?” He asked, an eyebrow raised. Zuko looked down at the tattered paper sack he carried and shook his head. “I’ll keep my things with me this time, but thank you Tosu,” he smiled softly at the young man who looked shocked that the firelord knew his name. Zuko tried to learn everyone's name who lived in the palace and this location was no exception. He would show the same respect here, this was his sister’s house after all.

Tosu led Zuko further into the compound, tension eating away at Zuko with every step he took. Last time Zuko was here, it didn’t end well. He wasn’t sure how Azula would respond to his presence. His hands turn clammy and start shaking as he stops for a moment to compose himself.

“I think she’ll appreciate the tarts this time,” Tosu smiles fondly at Zuko, feeling the apprehension and dread literally dripping off of the young firelord, who fixated on the bag with a small smile.

Tosu’s comment made Zuko curious. Was Azula in a better mood today? Would she accept his apology? Sure, Azula was making progress with her therapy, but she still had moments of rage and psychosis. After her defeat on the day of black sun, Zuko built a facility out in the volcanos of Ember Island to house Azula and her rehabilitation. It had been rough at first, Azula resisted treatment for months, accusing Zuko of trying to brainwash her. Eventually, with the medication recommended by her doctor, Azula finally relaxed enough to sit through a counseling session. Granted, the first few weeks she sat in silence, but eventually his younger sister began opening up.

“ _You won’t break me, you know,” Azula icily stared at Yzasu, her therapist._

___“No one is trying to break you, Azula. I’m only here to help you-“_

_“-If you truly wanted to help me then you would bust me out of this horrid place,” Azula scoffed, “I mean look at the decor, it's retched! Zuzu never really was good at interior design. He has such stuffy taste,” She chuckled to herself._

_“Even as a child?” Yzasu asked._

_“He always wore formal robes, claiming that he needed to train to become firelord one day even though father was not the heir,” Azula’s golden eyes, usually unnervingly emotionless, clouded over with a mixture of fondness and regret. “Zuko was desperate for our fathers favor and tried everything to prove himself worthy of his love. That never happened though. Our grandfather saw Zuko as weak when he was an infant. Because of his rejection, our father detached himself from Zuko. Him struggling with fire bending was no help either.” She sighed, rubbing the softness from her eyes before the cool emotionless expression reappeared._

_“Did you see him as weak?” Azula snapped her eyes to meet Yzasu’s at that question. Her golden eyes narrowed as she was met with the neutral gaze of her therapist. She held Yzasu’s gaze for a few more moments before tearing away, finding the grey swirls in the carpet fascinating._

___“Swirls in the carpet,” Azula clicks her tongue, “So barbaric.”_ Yzasu decided to allow Azula to avoid the question, feeling proud of Azula for even sharing the information she did.

After speaking with Zuko, both he and Yzasu decided that they would start remodeling Azula’s compound, based on her recommendations. Yzasu felt like redecorating would help Azula open up about her thoughts and feelings. It seemed to work. The “horrid and disgusting” yellow curtains reminded her of turtle ducks. Her “way too tiny and awfully uncomfortable” bed reminded her of their vacation house on Ember Island. And gold…well gold reminded Azula of Zuko.

Zuko’s train of thought was broken when he saw a familiar portrait up in the dining hall. It was the last one that his family made before Ursa left. Azula sat on their father’s lap, a small smirk ghosting her lips. Ursa sat with Zuko in her lap as both of them held a soft smile. Zuko hesitates before meeting his father’s gaze, when his eyes widen in surprise. His father's face was completely burned off. 

“What happened to this painting?” Zuko asked, masking any hint of emotion in his voice. Tosu’s eyes also widen and began profusely apologizing, telling him that the decorators were supposed to remove it before Zuko got here.

“I’m not offended, Tosu, just tell me what happened,” Zuko asked again, this time with a kinder tone, which seemed to put the young housekeeper at ease.

“Azula had an outburst yesterday and stormed out of her counseling session and began burning this painting until the nurses could get her under control. She hasn’t spoken to anyone since then, except to ask for you,” Zuko tensed as he remembered the distressing letter he received late last night.

_“You cannot just go right now! You need sleep,” Sokka exclaimed, clearly irritated with his stubborn friend’s antics._

_“Yzasu made it very clear that this was important. Azula hasn’t broken down like that in over a year, Sokka. I have to see what’s wrong,” stuffing another robe into his bag, Zuko groaned in frustration when Sokka stomped over, glared, and ripped the bag off the bed before throwing it across the room._

_“You’ll go first thing in the morning I’ll take all of your meetings and reschedule the ones later this week so you can stay awhile. I know your sister is important to you, but at least sleep tonight,” Sokka pleaded and Zuko couldn’t say no._

Zuko ended up bringing Sokka to Ember Island with him because he wouldn’t be able to keep it together otherwise. The nice thing about Sokka is that he can keep the conversation light, expertly dancing around subjects that might be sensitive. Sokka just knew what triggered Zuko’s memories and what topics were completely off limits. He never pushes Zuko to share, but instead tries to lighten the mood. Zuko smiles at the memory of Sokka chasing him down earlier to tell him not to challenge Azula to another Agni Kai because he didn’t want to “save the firelord’s life once again.”

As they walked farther into the palace, Zuko's stomach dropped once he realized where Tosu was taking him. Soon, they stood before the jet-black metal door that towered over Zuko as he felt his heart rate pickup. Azula was only in this room the first year of her stay. This is where they put her to keep herself from hurting others. This room had the ability to keep fire benders from bending. It also kept Azula from hurting herself. In her psychotic episodes, she would often try and attack other people, but would eventually try and harm herself, thinking that the people were out to kill her and she would rather die by her own hand than someone else’s.

The door opened as bright light burned Zuko’s eyes. After a moment, he noticed his sister curled up at the edge of the room. Her hair looked messier than Zuko ever remembered it looking. His anger flared as smoke shot out of his nose, scaring Tuso.

“Is no one taking care of her?” Zuko shouts in rage, trying with all of his strength to not choke out the man in front of him. He knew Azula had her own issues, but the way she looked right now was unacceptable. Not only did her hair look unbrushed and brittle, but she was dangerously thin, thinner than he’d seen her just a couple of weeks before and was trembling. How dare they treat his sister like this. Even though Azula did horrible things during the war, Zuko thought he made it perfectly clear that everyone was to still treat his baby sister with respect. He didn’t care if Azula refused help, they shouldn’t let her get like this.

“It’s okay, Zuzu.”

Zuko turns rigid as he hears Azula’s trembling voice. Turning around, he faces Azula’s watery gaze as she looks down at the bag he holds.

“Are those cheesecake tarts?” She quietly asked.

Zuko flashed Azula a faint smile as he opened the bag, revealing several milky-white cheesecake tarts…Azula’s favorite.

“I know you keep telling me to stop bringing them, but I tried to make them this time,” Zuko started, blushing lightly at the admission.

“The firelord bakes?” Azula playfully teased.

“Sokka taught me,” Zuko flushed even redder. “I knew how much you loved when our mother made us those tarts, so I wanted to try and recreate them for you. I thought that we could maybe make this our tradition. I know our mother wasn’t the best to you, but that doesn’t mean that you have to deny the small things about her that brought you joy. I wasn’t the only one affected by her absence, and I’m sorry for not being considerate of how you felt about everything,” Zuko finally choked out, after stumbling over his words.

The topic of their mother was a sore for both of them. It’s the reason Zuko hadn’t visited Azula in a while.

“ _Are you sure this is a good idea, Uncle?” Zuko looked worriedly at the cheerful old man, who just returned Zuko’s concerned gaze with calming one._

_“She asked me to come, Nephew. She wants to try my famous tea blend, so who am I to turn down such an offer?” He mused to his overly protective nephew. Zuko knew his uncle felt guilty about not being able to rescue Azula. Zuko also knew that she did not harbor any ill will towards their uncle, but he was still worried that seeing his and uncle’s close relationship would make Azula jealous._

_“This is just…new,” Zuko tried to be careful with his choice of words. He didn’t want to discuss his reservations about this meeting with uncle at this moment. Azula has a lot less patience for uncle’s ramblings, stories, lessons, whatever you want to call them. Her impatience combined with her short temper and superiority complex; it just doesn’t make for a good mix._

_Azula greeted them at the door._

_“Thank you for coming, General Iroh,” Azula bowed lowly to uncle as a sign of respect. Uncle immediately pulled Azula in for a tight embrace._

_“Please, just call me uncle,” she relaxed into uncle’s embrace as the tension in the air soon clears up. Uncle sits down and begins to pour Azula tea as they discuss what uncle has been upto since the war. Zuko watched as two of the most important people in his life bonded for one of the first times. Azula never really took to Uncle and Lu Ten quite like Zuko. That was probably due to the fact that their father had Azula constantly training in fire bending after realizing her natural gift for it. Zuko is pulled from his thoughts when Azula slaps his arm playfully._

_“I’m not going to eat one of your cheesecake tarts, Zuko. You should just stop bringing them,” She teases with a smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth._

_“Who says I bring them for you?” Zuko challenges before shoving a fourth tart greedily into his mouth._

_Zuko knew that his family was messed up, but he truly believed that they could work out their differences. He knew that this would all fall apart soon and the love Azula feels for them in this moment will fade. It always does. For every week that Azula is a caring sister, there are a dozen of weeks where she constantly throws insults at him, accuses him of alterior motives, and tries to challenge him to another Agni Kai. But, this time has been the longest she has gone without throwing a tantrum. It’s given Zuko hope that maybe things will look up, but boy was he wrong._

_“Thank you for coming over for tea, I understand that it may be hard for you to spend time with me, given everything that I’ve done,” Azula looks hopefully at uncle, the faintest smile appearing on her face._

_“I should apologize to you, Azula,” Uncle looked regretfully at his niece. Zuko’s shoulders tensed. He specifically told uncle not to bring any of this up. Azula was not ready to process these types of emotions. Zuko’s heart stops at the next sentence that comes from his uncle’s mouth._

_As soon as “your mother,” left uncle’s lips, Azula shut down. The content look in her eye vanished and was replaced with the cold icy glare that Zuko worked for over a year to get rid of._

_“I would appreciate it if you didn’t bring my mother into this. I don’t like to blame her for how I turned out. She may not have been a great mother, but-“_

_Before Zuko could stop himself, he jumped to his mother’s defense. Uncle looked at Zuko in disbelief. He knew Zuko didn’t actually believe that their mother was great. Even after he found her, Zuko couldn’t shake the decision she made to forget them. Zuko also struggled to understand why Ursa didn’t try harder with Azula. If she knew that Azula was being brainwashed, she should’ve done something._

_Tears threatened to fall down Zuko’s warm cheeks as he remembered the look of betrayal on his sister’s face. The brokenness with which she accused Zuko of being a hypocrite still haunted him. She was right though. How could he complain about their father and defend his mother when Azula had the opposite experience with their parents. He wouldn’t listen to the ways Ursa hurt her, but Azula would listen to and grieve with Zuko over the ways their father hurt him._

_Zuko didn’t expect the fire bending though._

_The two battled, but Azula’s flames were no longer blue, which distressed her further. Azula didn’t realize just how far she’d digressed until that moment. The look of horror on her face when she realized she was nowhere near as powerful as she once was deeply saddened Zuko. Azula’s horror quickly turned to anger as she decided to unleash and attack with pure emotion instead of following any techniques._

_Her form was sloppy, bending was weak, and her aim worsened. A few nurses came in and subdued Azula because she was past the point of talking down. Zuko and Iroh were asked to leave and not return until Azula was ready._ __

“Is this your way of apologizing to me?” Azula raised an eyebrow.

“Well, not exactly,” he shrugged shyly, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his neck. “I am sorry though. I don’t know why I stood up for our mother. I know she left to protect me, but that doesn’t make what she did to you okay. Whenever I found her I-“

“-You found mother?” Azula cut off his rambling with a wide expression.

“Ha-“Azula hesitated. “Has she asked about me?”

The tight feeling in Zuko’s chest returned.

She asked once. Whenever Ursa found out about what happened to Azula, she never wanted to bring up her daughter again. This infuriated Zuko. He remembers seeing red and vaguely shouting at his mother, telling her about how horrible she actually was and that she should be ashamed of her decisions. He questioned her ability to parent and accused her of hurting him more than his father ever could. He barley remembers Mai rushing over to try and pull him away, and definitely didn’t remember the tears streaming down his face. Zuko’s daze ended as Sokka’s animated voice entered the mix. He still felt Sokka’s fingers harshly yank him away from his mother as the ambassador all but carried the raging fire bender to his room. After that night, Zuko asked his mother and her family to leave, unable to live with Ursa’s persistent opinion.

“Finding her wasn’t what it cracked up to be,” Zuko offers a tight-lipped smile, “why are we the spirit’s least favorite?”

Azula chuckled softly at Zuko’s horrible joke, which made Zuko smile, but just barley.

“Yzasu told me the true story about you and our father,” Azula burst as Zuko’s eyes widen in shock.

“You mean, you didn’t know?” Zuko whispered in disbelief. How could his own sister not know the true story of his banishment.

“Father told me that you betrayed the nation and committed the worst possible treason. I always assumed the worst of you because of it,” she shakily explained.

“When Yzasu told me, I couldn’t believe that our father was capable of that level of cruelty. I mean, I know he’s capable, but I didn’t think he’d actually do it.” A single tear fell from her golden eyes, prompting Zuko to pull his sister into a hug for the first time in years. She tried to keep herself from crying, but soon silent shakes turned into quiet whimpering, which turned into sobbing. Azula feverently grabbed at Zuko’s robes, pulling him impossibly close to her as loud sobs racked through her body. Zuko wrapped his arms around her before quietly whispering comforting words to her, feeling anxious about whether this actually helped. He had never seen Azula act like this before and it felt even sadder than her breakdown after the Agni Kai.

Zuko didn’t know how long he stood with Azula until he saw Sokka’s concerned face appear in the doorway. Her sobs had slowly quieted to small whimpers as she kept repeating sorry into her brother’s chest.

“Do you want to eat the cheesecake tarts? Sokka came to join us,” Azula pulled back before looking between the two boys as a small smile ghosted across her face.

“Just this once, but that doesn’t mean I want to make it a tradition,” she playfully jested as Zuko scoffed and Sokka pretended to be deeply offended.

“How dare you insult my baking skills,” Sokka exclaimed before pulling one out of the bag and pushing into Azula’s thin hands.

“I taught Zuko everything he knows, unless it tastes bad. In that case, he’s just beyond hope,” Sokka rambled as Azula nervously took a bite.

It tasted just like their mothers.

The rest of the night, the three moved to Azula's room and sprawled out on her bed to swap their adventure stories. Azula opened up about her life after Zuko was banished. She talked about the insane amount of pressure Ozai placed on her to succeed. No fourteen-year-old should have to go through that intense treatment. Of course, Azula brought up that Zuko went through worse when he was younger, but that didn’t mean Azula deserved it. Azula asked countless questions about what the world looked like now. She’s been in this compound for three years after all, she has no idea what life is like now.

“I can’t believe they want to build a statue of me!” Sokka exclaimed excitedly while telling Azula about Aang’s project of building Republic City.

“Glad to see your ego is still in check,” Zuko retorted as Azula giggled at the lighthearted argument that ensued.

Zuko and Sokka ended up staying on Ember Island for a full week and Azula had a few major breakthroughs. After opening up to Zuko about his scar, she began telling him everything that happened to her, including the truth about her relationship with their father, which made Zuko increasingly angrier by the session. Ozai may have been physically abusive with Zuko, at least he didn’t endure the mental torment that Azula spent years under. His threats to Azula were vailed, keeping her on her toes. Whenever Azula opened up about the moment she thought their father would burn her like Zuko, he shot up and stormed from the building, unable to hear anymore as memories of his childhood started overwhelming him.

Sokka found Azula hours later curled into a ball on her bed. She sat totally still, even when he sat next to hear and gently raked the hair from her eyes. He sat with her until Zuko returned with puffy eyes, chapped lips, and burned knuckles. Muttering out apologies, Zuko crumbled next to Sokka as he asked his sister to forgive him for running off. For the first time, Zuko willingly opened up about how Azula saying those things triggered his memories of their father. The two cried over the cold and evil hearted man that “raised” them. They cried about the woman who turned her back and willingly chose to forget her children.

Azula and Zuko’s relationship grew after that. Whenever it was time for Zuko to leave, he promised to write every week and visit whenever he could. In his absence, Azula continued to make progress. The girl who lost everything was finally being rebuilt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three months later, Azula was covered head-to-toe in flower as Sokka tried to explain how to make cheesecake tarts.

“For the thousandth time, you have to let it set, ‘Zules!” Sokka threw his hands up in the air as he threw another pan into the sink.

Azula moved back to the fire nation a month ago and Sokka took it upon himself to teach Azula how to bake. He thought it would be the perfect outlet for the fire princess because she could follow a recipe perfectly. The precision with which Azula measures her baking goods is almost non-human; however, she struggles with the actual baking though. For some reason, Azula can never seem to time it right and either undercooks the treats or burns them. Zuko joined occasionally, but his sister couldn’t quite handle being worse at something than her brother yet. She was working on it though.

After weeks of trial and error, Sokka realized that Azula needed easier recipes to tackle, much to her displeasure.

“I can do the difficult ones.”

“Eventually, yes. Right now? No!” The water tribe man retorted, rolling his eyes at Azula’s foot stomp and impending tantrum. After an hour or two of sulking, Azula finally came around and attempted to make cookies, surprisingly succeeding.

“Zuko, I made cookies!” Azula exclaimed as her and Sokka burst into his office. Luckily, Zuko was just working on paperwork and was not in a meeting.

“Spirits! You can’t just barge in on me like that,” Zuko clutched his chest, glaring at the two for a second, but gratefully took one of Azula’s cookies. He took a bite and was surprised to find that it tasted delicious. Azula’s cheeks turned bright red when he began raving about the flavor, butteriness, and flaky bits of her cookies. Sokka beamed with pride as he took another cookie and began adding onto the list of reasons why it was so amazing.

Azula felt her eyes welling up with tears but allowed them to fall for once. No one had ever given her this much praise for succeeding in something before. When she struggled to learn one of the most advanced fire bending moves, her father was irritated that it took her six months…It took most people six years to learn it. But here were Zuko and Sokka, praising her for baking something tasty after so many failed attempts. They didn’t care that Azula didn’t do everything perfectly and they didn’t care that Azula wasn’t perfect.

Apologizing to Ty Lee and Mai went over easier than Azula expected. Both of them accepted her apology and acted like Azula had always been a great friend. Ty Lee immediatly attacked Azula in a hug, raving about all of the fun things the three would be doing together. Mai offered a tiny smile and patted Azula's shoulder once or twice. Azula loved being reunited with her friends. She still had her moments, but whenever Azula lost her temper, she would always apologize. Eventually Mai and Ty Lee both joined baking lessons, much to Sokka’s dismay.

“Now there’s three of you!? I don’t get paid enough for this,” Sokka joked as he watched Mai and Ty Lee try and prank Azula.

“Hey!” Azula shouted angrily, causing everyone to freeze. Tilting her head in confusion, it took a moment for Azula to realize why everyone reacted that way. Looking down, she saw a blue flame dagger ignited over her left hand. Azula put out the flame and slowly sank to the floor before bringing her knees up to her chest. Why had she reacted that way? Everyone still thinks she’s a monster. Maybe the people who still hate her are right, that she couldn’t change.

“Your flame was blue again!” Sokka pulled Azula from her thoughts as she saw a huge grin plaster itself on his face. Azula had been so busy jumping to the worst conclusions that she failed to realize that for the first time in years, her flames were _blue._

She quickly ignited another flame dagger, which came out blue again.

“I knew baking would help you regain your control,” Sokka smugly states, leaning against the counter with the stupidest smirk on his face. Azula’s face must’ve looked bewildered because Sokka began to explain how he thought the fire princess was mentally blocked and being able to learn a new skill in a positive environment might help. Azula tried to follow along, but she couldn’t help the huge grin that spread across her face when she realized she was finally doing okay. She thought the other's didn't notice, but all three of their smiles brightened at her reaction. 

Of course, Azula immediately asked to spar with Zuko after celebrating with Mai, Sokka, and Ty Lee. He looked at her with a confused expression but followed her to the training grounds. Both of them took a battle stance and waited for the first move. Zuko caught Azula off guard by attacking first, something he never used to do. Azula knew he was going easy on her to gauge her progress and would adjust based on that. While Azula was still far from her best, she could still hold her own. She blocked Zuko’s attacked and went on the offensive. Zuko’s eyes beamed with excitement when he saw her blue flames connecting with his orange ones. Azula thought something was different about Zuko’s form though. She noticed it during their Agni Kai as well. He bended differently. His fire was no longer so hot it felt cold, but instead felt warm and comforting. Zuko always used his anger to fuel his bending, but not anymore. His moves were more graceful, and almost looked like waterbending. In fact, Azula could’ve sworn she saw Zuko perform an airbending move.

Zuko eventually defeated Azula, but she reacted with grace and humility. Azula knew that her breakdown deeply affected her bending and she wasn’t making the progress she should be. Maybe...just maybe, her older brother could help. 

“How did you learn to firebend like that?” Azula asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

“I learned from the masters,” Zuko replied warmly as he began stretching before going into a meditation position.

Zuko began explaining the history of firebending to Azula, making sure to emphasize the parts of history where the fire nation had it wrong. Azula listened intently, meditating along with Zuko, paying attention to the control of her flame. He explained inner fire and most importantly, he taught her all the good parts of firebending. He explained the passion, love, warmth, and peace that firebenders can use to fuel their inner flame. Azula learned that she could let go of the things in her life that made her upset. She learned that her bending would become stronger by grounding herself in humility and love.

After their sparring session, Zuko added “training Azula proper firebending,” to the top of his firelord duties. Every morning, the two would meditate together at sunrise and train together afterwards. Azula progressed quickly, absorbing the information like a cowsponge. Instead of being envious of Azula like when he was younger, Zuko felt his heart swell with pride with how well Azula embraced the new fire nation culture. He didn’t think his relationship with Azula would ever develop this far. Who would’ve thought that Zuko’s horrible taste in interior design would be the catalyst to Azula’s redemption

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Azula never would’ve thought that she would be making her mother’s cheesecake tarts to entertain the avatar and his friends. After she spent a few months at the palace, Aang, Katara, and Toph came to visit, and Azula apologized to them as well. While it was harder for Toph and Katara to accept, they eventually did and welcomed her with open arms. Toph hit it off surprisingly well with Mai and Ty Lee while Katara found that her and Azula had way more in common than what she initially thought. Both of them struggled with the deaths of their mothers and both had stupid older brothers. Azula and Katara spent many evenings sharing little Sokka and Zuko memories.

In fact, Azula was the first person Katara told about her pregnancy.

_“Azula!” Katara burst through the bedroom door with a distressed look on her face._

_“What it is?” Azula asked. Katara and Aang had literally just arrived to the fire nation. They were here on official business, but also to celebrate their one year anniversary._

_“I’m pregnant,” Katara shares, trying to keep a serious face, but can’t help breaking out into a huge grin. She squealed and jumped up and down while Azula started cheering about being getting to be the cool aunt._

Even though everyone forgave Azula, she knew that it would take more than a couple of days to earn their trust and respect. Because of this, Azula stood by the oven anxiously as she waited for her tarts to finish. She needed them to be perfect. As soon as the timer went off, she rushed to the oven to pull them out, Sokka and Zuko running in moments after.

“They look…perfect,” Sokka beamed with pride as he slowly touched one of the tarts and felt the perfect firm-to-bouncy consistency it needed. Azula swats their hands away as she shoos them from the kitchen, mumbling about needing to learn manners. Both sulk for a moment before rejoining their friends while Azula arranges her treats on a giant gold platter. She bursts through the kitchen doors with a faint smile on her face.

“My mother made these for Zuko and I all the time when we were children. She always used to give me the biggest tart and would say something like ‘remember to practice your meditation, I know it’s hard, but you should always try and stay balanced.’ Or if she were mad at me she would give it to Zuko and recite some old proverb that was intended to teach me a lesson, but I never understood them…” Azula realized she started rambling like her brother and blushed profusely.

“This is just like when Sifu Hotman made us Uncle Iroh’s tea for the first time!” Toph exclaimed, which caused everyone to go into a fit of laughter, except Zuko and Azula.

“I told you guys to stop calling me that! It’s unbecoming of a firelord,” Zuko whined as he crossed his arms over his chest and pouted.

“I’m sorry, but who is Sifu Hotman?” Azula asked with a bewildered expression.

Everyone raced to tell Azula the story first, each of them getting louder to try and shout over each other.

“Hey!” Katara shouted to get everyone’s attention. She held a half eaten cheesecake tart before muttering, “these are _so_ good.”

The gaang seemingly forgot about the story and raced over to the tarts. Ranting and raving about the quality. Of course, Sokka mentions that Azula learned everything from him.

“They seem to like you,” Zuko leaned slightly into his sister’s side.

Azula smiled as they stood there and watched their friends devour all of Azula and Sokka’s treats.

“Thank you,” Azula whispered quietly as happy tears welled up in her eyes.

“For what?” Zuko looked down at her, concern lacing his brow.

“Everything.”


End file.
